ACLU releases graphic video of 2012 police shooting of mentally-ill black man in Michigan. More than 45 shots http://t.co/rNYQN2HHZM — Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) October 27, 2014 Milton Hall stole coffee & refused to drop knife. officers fired 47 shots, 11 hit. All cleared by local PD & feds http://t.co/hxIRQX2gfb — Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) October 27,…
I often say that the world of prenatal testing for Down syndrome is a test run for the future of human procreation, and that it’s a test we are generally failing. It seems to me that as our access to pre-natal information gets better and better, cheaper and cheaper, more and more accurate, we slide…
I’m still waiting on documents to arrive for the NEH as I’d like a much clearer assessment of who is making decisions over there. I’m angry, as well, that they aren’t more forthcoming. The NEH belongs to us. It belongs to everyone who has participated in an NEH program or applied for one. It belongs…
The last few days I’ve been at a conference on Medieval Materiality. For those not familiar, there’s a lot of talk in my field of the “material turn,” in which questions about material culture and object-related analyses (of many sorts) are becoming more central, where once they were quite peripheral. Among the many things that…
Nico in a swimming pool, holding onto a tube, swimming and laughing. This is my son swimming at a party this summer. He’s never happier than when he’s in the pool, using his body, feeling the water, playing and filled with joy. So, finally, my wife and I signed him up for swimming lessons with…
There’s a new piece up in The Guardian on the vilification of people with disabilities as “scroungers” in the current conservative UK speech and beyond. The author, Aditya Chakrabortty, argues that this discursive move not only helps justify cuts in services, but also leads to violence. The coalition has so thoroughly vilified “scroungers” that hate crimes…
I’ve written about Sara Hendren and her mantra – “All Technology is Assistive Technology” before – both in my review of John Scalzi’s recent book (which is basically about assistive tech) and on the blog. Hendren has a new piece over on Medium’s Backchannel exploring her mantra with 6 rules on design and assistive tech. Please…
It’s been busy. I got book proofs on Thursday for Sacred Plunder: Venice and the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. That means that my writing will not so much stop, but will become erratic and not as predictable daily until proofs are done. Unless, you know, I get really pissed off about something. In the…
In January 2012, three off-duty deputies killed a man with Down syndrome over the price of a movie ticket. Now, a civil lawsuit over Ethan Saylor’s death is allowed to continue, as ruled by Judge William Nickerson, and reported here in the Washington Post. If you are new to #JusticeForEthan, I have a few links…
At the end of September I wrote a post about the arbitrary decision to end the NEH overseas summer seminars and institutes. It’s packed with comments from people whose lives and careers were transformed by such programs. Now I have a piece at Chronicle Vitae on my findings. They are: The NEH denies political pressure. The NEH…